


Never to be a Hero

by FireEye



Category: Final Fantasy II
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 05:12:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17074052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: Firion and Leon have one final confrontation.





	Never to be a Hero

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Estirose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/gifts).



They stood atop a dust-swept precipice.  The vast desert stretched into the distant horizon below the broken cliffside.  The midday sun beat down on the grim, solemn pair of men who stood facing one another.  One man’s hair caught the sunlight, shining brightly; the other man’s absorbed it.

One man’s sword was not yet drawn.

“Didn’t you know it would always come to this?”

“Why are you doing this?”

“What did you think, Firion?  That I would spend the rest of my life making up for everything that’s been lost.  Were you expecting a fair trial?  Did you really think _I_ could _redeem_ myself?”

“Why not?  What have you lost, other than your mind?”  Firion sighed, throwing an arm out at the desert.  “Palamecia needs a new king.  You could always-...”

“I could always, _what_?  Be a _good_ king?  _Me_?”  Leonhart scoffed.  “No.  Palamecia will be torn down to the last cursed brick, like it has always deserved.”

“Then why _this_?”

There had been peace, for a time.  Then, inexplicably, destruction had returned in the form of one man.  No armies, no conquest... no meaning behind it.  Leonhart had simply cut a path of pain and suffering across the continent.  And, like the hero he had become, Firion tracked him down.

By design, that.

“Draw your sword, or I will cut you down like the witless hero you are.”

Firion didn’t move.  Not until Leonhart’s sword arced towards his chest.  It deflected off his scabbard, and he drew his sword in the same breath.

They fought, kicking up clouds of dust, drawing blood for blood.  The sun dipped lower in the sky, sapping their strength, as the battle raged on between them.  Their swords clashed, and they pushed, strength against strength.

“This isn’t you.   This darkness, this-...”

“It was always in me,” Leonhart growled.  “This was always _me_.”

Both moved to break the stalemate.  Both swords flashed.  Both cut deep.

The fables would tell of a heroic knight, full of righteous light, who gave his life to defeat an irredeemable lord of darkness at the stroke of midnight, during a thunderstorm at the end of the world.

They never spoke of a reunion between lost and frightened brothers, who caught each other falling.  It never spoke of how they sat exhausted, huddled together under a merciless desert sun, breathing their last.

“I always knew it would be like this.”

If Firion had the strength to lift his head, he would have done it.

“My parents...” Leonhart told him.  “...always loved you best, you know...?”

It wasn’t expressly funny, but Firion chuckled.  His shoulders shook, but it didn’t make a sound.

“I hated you for it... but...” Leonhart’s head lolled from side to side, a lazy, bloodstained smile curling at the edges of his lips.  “Not anymore.”

“I’m glad it was you.”

Licking the blood from his lip, he swallowed.  Scuffing dirt at first, he grasped blindly for the other man’s hand.

“Firion...?”

Firion’s hand tightened around his, and Leonhart sighed.

**Author's Note:**

> Uh. ...oops?


End file.
